Remembrance
by OnyxHarmony
Summary: (This is a Day of The Departed one shot, set after Frayed Ropes, inbetween season 4 and 5) Deity has been..unusually quiet lately, and now on the Day of The Departed, she says she has plans. What plans? She usually hangs out with one of the guys..


Deity sat in the kitchen that afternoon with the boys, chuckling a little to herself when she saw Jay trying to sneak past Zane to steal some food from the fridge instead of waiting for dinner. It was four in the afternoon, so Zane was getting everyone fed before..wait, why was he rushing to cook? Did they have somewhere to be? Deity rubbed her face and glanced across the table at her boyfriend Cole, who was currently doodling in his sketchbook. "Hey..why's Zane in such a hurry? Do we have a mission to get to?" Cole paused and lifted his head, frowning at Deity. "Do you not know what today is?" She watched him, a look of concentration crossing her tired face. "..Monday?" Jay snorted in the background, waving an apple he'd snatched from the counter. "Nah, It's October 29th Deity! The Day of The Departed! Candy, costumes..remembering the d-" He was cut off by Zane grabbing the apple from his hand and crossing his arms, tapping his foot as though he were expecting an explanation for Jay not waiting until he was done cooking. Jay chuckled nervously and swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh man, would you look at the time? I gotta get ready to head out for the night-Bye!" The master of lightning ran from the kitchen and Zane sighed, placing the apple back in the fruit bowl on the counter. He paused, seeing Cole watching Deity carefully. "What is it?" Zane frowned, confused as to why Cole looked concerned. "She went quiet when Jay mentioned what day it is.." Deity was staring into her mug of tea, expression on her face rather..blank. Cole frowned and squeezed her arm. "Hey.." Cole's gravelly voice and the pressure on her arm from the squeeze caused her to blink and lift her head, smiling at him as though nothing were wrong. "Yeah? What's up Rocky?" He frowned, looking at Zane and then back at her. "You kinda spaced out for a while there. We're gonna head out shortly after dinner..did you wanna go to my Dad's early?" Deity shook her head, pushing her mug to the side. "Nah..I can't go with you this year, Cole. I have plans." She got up from the table and went over to Cole, giving him a brief kiss on the cheek and heading out of the kitchen.

Cole looked a bit confused, looking to Zane who only shrugged. "Perhaps you should speak with her. It may be important if she no longer wishes to spend time with us this holiday." He sighed and stood up, smiling at Zane. "Yeah..alright I'll check on her. I'll let you know whats going on, save some food for us alright?" The master of ice only chuckled, shaking his head as Cole left the room. Hesitating before opening the door their bedroom, he took a breath and slowly opened it, pausing when he saw his girlfriend packing a small bag. "Deity..what's goin' on? Why don't you wanna hang out with me and dad?" Deity paused and looked in the little bag she was packing. It had a few candles..a handmade lantern, and some weapons, just in case. "Cole it's not that I don't want to, I just..have some people I haven't remembered in a long time." He sat down on the bed, watching her expression. Was that fear? Guilt? Sadness? He couldn't tell. "Who? You never really talk about yourself, Songbird." She took a breath to calm herself, zipping up the small bag and looking at Cole. "My parents. I haven't thought about them in..years, really. Not since I was ten." He raised an eyebrow, taking the small bag when Deity handed it to him while she tugged a jacket on. "Since you were ten? Deity that was..fourteen years ago." She swallowed and zipped her jacket up. "It's..complicated." She sighed and grabbed her bike helmet, motioning for Cole to follow. "I.." Deity stopped when they got to the vehicle bay, toying with the strap on her helmet. "I'd feel better if you came with me, but your father shouldn't be alone on the Day Of The-" Cole carefully turned her around and cupped her cheek in his hand, watching her lift her head to look at him. "We aren't supposed to be at Dad's until seven, and it's only four thirty. We have time for whatever you need, Deity." Her fingers tensed around the helmet strap. "K..Kibo Village isn't too far from where the ship is..Maybe forty minutes." Cole frowned, stuffing the bag into the compartment on the bike and pulling Deity closer. "Hey..calm down, alright? You don't have to tell me anything about this trip until we get there."

Deity nodded and gave him a brief smile, pausing and shutting her eyes for a moment when he kissed the top of her head. "Thank you.." Cole chuckled and patted her head. "You're welcome, Cupcake. C'mon. I can't drive there because I've never been to Kibo." She nodded and climbed on the bike, feeling Cole sit down behind her and hold onto her waist after putting his own helmet on. "Ready when you are." Soon they were on their way, with Deity doing her best to not let her mind drift to.. **that day**. Shaking her head and snapping out of her thoughts, she felt Cole giving her a squeeze. "What is it?" Cole frowned in his helmet, speaking with the com links inside the helmets. "I..think we're here? Is it supposed to be burnt and abandoned?" Deity lifted her head from staring at the road and her breath caught, hands gripping the handlebars tighter. The memory of the last time she saw this place was a little fuzzy..but she knew. This was Kibo. Her home..the sadness building in her chest let her know _exactly_ where she was. "Y..Yeah. This is it." She drove the bike further into the village and turned it off, propping it against a charred house after she and Cole got off it. Cole frowned and tugged his helmet off, watching the sun go down as he looked around. "Deity, what..happened here?" He didn't know she came from this place. He knew a lot about her, but not this. Deity was currently digging in the compartment on the bike, pulling the bag out. "I'll..explain in a minute." Cole followed Deity toward the west end of the village, watching her cut the vines off a worn wooden door. Her hands stilled and she sighed, shutting her eyes. Her voice sounded pained when she spoke-as though it were a hard topic. "This..house is where I grew up." She said, continuing to cut the vines and prying the door open. Cole paused, slightly surprised. "Really? But its-" Deity weakly chuckled and went inside, carrying the bag. "Burnt? Broken? Abandoned?" The interior of the house was covered in dust..nothing had been moved since the day it was evacuated. Cole stepped over a pile of children's blocks, nodding. "Yeah. It's like it was left behind without much choice."

Deity paused in her steps, with her hand on the door to the garden. Her voice shook a little as memories began freeing themselves from the deepest parts of her mind, where she'd repressed them. She could hear her dad warning her mother that they needed to get out. That they couldn't stay because it was **dangerous**. Her voice shook as she pushed the door open, while she tugged the tie out of her hair, letting her hair down. "You're right. It was." Cole paused when he saw Deity sitting in front of an overgrown bush of..blue roses..? She was busy setting up a few candles and the lantern, so he carefully sat down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. He knew she couldn't feel that gentle touch, so he squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "Deity..I've known you for a long time..six and a half years-almost seven. You can trust me with whatever it is happened here." Deity stilled and let out a shaky breath, gripping the tiny candle she had for her lantern. "M..My parents, I..the s..storm-" Cole rubbed her back, putting his arm around her and scooting closer. "Its okay, take your time..I'm listening." Deity fumbled with the candle, slipping it into it's holder on the lantern. Searching in the bag for matches, she sighed. She would have to confront her past and..stop repressing the memories sooner or later. "The..memories are a little fuzzy because I was five but..there was a lightning storm one afternoon..and we had to flee." She found the package and lit the lantern, watching it float up into the sky. Deity stared at it as it went. "We grabbed what we could carry..what was necessary and began evacuating." Cole tugged Deity close and gave her a squeeze, letting her continue. "Mom..wanted to take a shortcut off the evacuation route toward Ninjago City because it was faster. The lightning strikes kept getting closer..until we both felt Dad shove us out of the way. H..He..he died instantly, and I didn't understand what was going on." Her eyes watered and tears began to slip down her face, and Cole wasn't surprised. This sounded..awful to go through. "Mom had us run from where dad lay just in case there was another close strike. She stopped at the top of a hill, setting me down in the grass. But when she ran down the hill to go get dad's body.."

Deity's voice broke and she looked at the ground, letting herself cry. She'd never processed what had happened. She'd never cried about it in her entire life. "She got struck, too. Cole, I tried to get her to wake up, I just..wanted her to wake up.." A sob freed from her and she shook, feeling Cole pull her into his lap and squeeze his arms around her. "I couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore-" Deity laid her head in Cole's neck and shut her eyes, too caught up in her memories to notice she was getting his shirt a little wet. Cole didn't mind it..he loved her, and she needed this. Keeping it in and repressing it for so long must've hurt. "Deity..its okay to cry about this, y'know? You lost your parents, and you were alone until Mystake found you. Right?" A weak nod against his neck was her reply, a shaky breath leaving her as she slipped her arms around him. Cole kept his voice calm and gave her a squeeze. He hesitated, looking up at the lantern that was high in the sky now-but not so high that he couldn't see it. "You said you saw my mother..when you were in the coma. Did you see them too? Your parents?" Deity's voice shook as she started crying again, burying her head in his neck and squeezing him. "Yes! It hurt to see them again, and I.." He looked back down at her, lifting her chin to make her look at him. He carefully rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "You were conflicted because you'd missed them, right?" Deity watched Cole, not caring that she was getting his hand wet from her crying. "Yes, and I'm sor-" He shushed her. "I'm not mad. I'm just glad you came back to us. I don't think it'd be the same without you here." Cole leaned down and kissed her forehead, then pulled away. Deity looked to the side while Cole held her face. "I'm glad I came back too..they could see me struggling to choose." She looked back at Cole, a smile slowly forming on her face. "But then they heard your mom talking to me. About how much you loved me, and.." Deity pulled away from his hand, laying her head on his chest and shutting her eyes. "They wanted me to stay with you. With you and the others. It's where I belong, now." Cole squeezed her in his arms, giving her a smile when she opened her eyes again. He spoke softly, kissing the top of her head.

 _ **"Confronting your past doesn't mean the future will be easy. But I'll be by your side through it all. I promise."**_


End file.
